Quattro Mani IV 1966

Rauschenberg made this one, Quattro Mani IV, with printmaking and painting, layering imagery and gesture. You can see how forms and shapes appear and recede as if built up in layers. I always feel like I'm right there with the artist when I see this push-and-pull in a painting. Rauschenberg’s clearly in a constant state of questioning, wiping away, adding, and revising. It’s like a dance, a conversation, a collaboration with the materials. I love the way you can feel the artist changing his mind about what the painting could be, searching. What I like about this is that it's not just about making something pretty or representational, but about the process of thinking through making. The dark, smeared tractor tires are particularly successful. I wonder if Twombly saw these and thought, "Wow, I need to use that!" It's all one big conversation, you know?